The Devil You Know
by Lothiriel84
Summary: It was great when it all began. AU. - Written for The Mentalist Reverse Big Bang on LJ, and for the Ficathon 2013 on Paint It Red forum. A huge thank you to my artist Miss Peg and to my beta MerriWyllow, who also helped me fix a couple of issues with the plot. Cover image courtesy of Miss Peg.
1. Chapter 1

Angela was one of the very few people who knew that 'Boy Wonder' was actually two.

Alex Jane had twin sons, Daniel and Patrick; he'd trained them both in cold reading and all tricks of the trade ever since they were three, and now they were honed conmen just like their father.

The twins were like two peas in a pod: they liked all the same things, and did everything together. It took her a lot of time to be able to tell which was which, but then she learned that Daniel was the most reckless of the pair and he had a birthmark the shape of a half-moon on his left shoulder.

It seemed that the Jane brothers shared also a similar taste in women, for both of them fell in love with her at first sight. She couldn't hide the fact that she was flattered by their attentions; the truth was that she actually enjoyed keeping them on tenterhooks, flirting with each of them in turn.

Daniel was the one she eventually lost her virginity to, in a hurried quickie behind her trailer while she was actually supposed to be looking after her little brother. Patrick immediately sensed the shift in their relationship, and he ostensibly avoided the new couple for the next few weeks.

Angela felt a bit guilty over her friend's sudden withdrawal, but she was way too busy to give it more than a passing thought. Her newly established relationship with Daniel had opened up a Pandora's box of forbidden pleasures, and she wanted to explore them all.

Their feverish passion lasted a couple of months at most; during that time they took every opportunity to sneak behind their parents' back for a good roll in the hay, and she enjoyed every second of it.

However, when she finally came to her senses again she was disturbed by a feeling that she couldn't quite place. There was something about Daniel that scared her, as if he was hiding a darker side behind his charming smiles and innocent eyes.

In the end she decided to open up to Patrick; he was the person who knew Daniel best, and she trusted him better than her own boyfriend.

Patrick looked decidedly torn when she asked for his advice. He didn't want to betray his own twin, but she could tell that he was actually worried for her; it was as clear as day that he was deeply in love with her, and she felt a sudden rush of affection towards him.

"Take me away from here," she begged softly, and saw him capitulating at last.

Together they plucked up the courage to leave the carnie life firmly behind their back, so that they could make a brand new start somewhere else.

Patrick always behaved like the perfect gentleman, even went as far as sleeping on the floor when they happened to share a motel room. Angela was secretly grateful for that; she wasn't anywhere near ready to start a new relationship so soon, she was still running away from her first boyfriend after all.

It was only when they settled in a small coastal town near L.A. that she swallowed her nerves and tentatively brushed her lips at the corner of his mouth. It was nothing like Daniel's passionate kisses, and yet Patrick's gentle response simply took her breath away.

They dated for a while, until one evening she was rendered speechless as he went down on his knee and presented her with a modest but beautiful solitaire ring. She had never been the marrying kind, but now she couldn't deny how much she wanted this; so she simply said yes.

They had a simple wedding on the beach, then spent their honeymoon in Malibu. Patrick had been doing a few private readings of late, rich women who were more than happy to pay lots of money for someone to tell them exactly what they wanted to hear.

It didn't take them long to run out of money again, but her husband vowed he would buy her a house close to the ocean someday.

Angela didn't exactly approve the fact that he still conned people to make a living, but then it was what he did best and she was sick and tired of being flat broke.

Patrick's popularity grew slowly but steadily, and in a little over than a year he was able to fulfill his promise. She couldn't believe her own eyes when she first set foot in their brand new Malibu home, the beauty of it surpassed even her wildest dreams.

That night they made love on the terrace behind the house, the rhythmic sound of waves mingling with their soft panting. It was probably the single perfect moment in her life, and one that she was going to remember until her dying day.

Later on, as they cuddled up together a shooting star crossed the night sky and a soft smile tugged at her lips; her only wish was that they could always be as happy as they were right now.

What they had left behind didn't matter, all that mattered was their future together.

However, as she finally drifted towards sleep, she found herself wondering how her life would have been if she had chosen Daniel over his twin. Angela had no idea how her brother-in-law had taken the news of the two of them eloping together; neither she nor Patrick had contacted their respective families ever since their departure, apart from a short letter where they presented their marriage as a fait accompli.

In the end she simply fell asleep with her head nestled on her husband's shoulder. He loved her and she loved him, perhaps one day they could even think of starting a family of their own.

Patrick would surely be a wonderful father when the time came; and she dreamt of a golden-haired child running along the seashore, laughing in the sunshine.

It was the first light of dawn that woke her in the morning, and she stood there for a long while watching as the sun played over the features of the man her heart belonged to.


	2. Chapter 2

People were always so fond of happy endings. All the best stories ended with the clichéd 'and they lived happily ever after'; then the curtain fell, and you never bothered to wonder what happened next.

Real life was no fairy tale, however; Angela Jane had come to learn it the hard way.

Patrick now spent the better part of his days far from home; the number of people that asked for his supposed help increased daily, he had to travel far and wide to meet all the demands. She'd grown to hate that bunch of spoilt and bored people, for they got to see her husband far more often than she did.

The hard cold truth was that she felt lonely; as much as she used to love being able to buy new clothes and expensive jewelry, she now wished that she could go back to the first days of their marriage. They were poorer but happier, and she sorely missed the Patrick of old – the man who would spend hours just looking at her and whispering sweet nothings in her ear.

She briefly considered the option to stop taking her pill; perhaps her husband would decide to spend more time with her if she actually got pregnant, but then it wasn't like her to resort to such subterfuge in order to win back his affections.

One fine morning she was brooding in the quiet of the empty living room when Patrick unexpectedly walked in from the back terrace. She wasn't expecting him for a couple of days at least; he'd told her he had a couple of appointments in the Sacramento area, then he was probably going to drop by a few friends that lived there.

Her surprise only deepened when he candidly ignored her questioning look, taking her in his arms instead. However, she responded willingly to his kiss, ignoring the small voice at the back of her mind that insinuated there was something different about him.

It was only when she looked him in the eyes that the truth dawned on her at last, and she pushed him away abruptly.

"Daniel! What are you doing here?"

The last time she'd got to hear from her brother, he told her that Alex Jane had been forsaken by his other son as well; Daniel had seemingly vanished into thin air, and no one knew what he might be up to. And now he was standing right in front of her, wearing a three-piece suit that looked suspiciously like Patrick's favorite one.

(She would rather not acknowledge how much of a turn-on this was to her.)

"So you still remember me," he replied easily, shooting her one of his dazzling smiles.

For a fleeting moment Angela was tempted to wipe away his smug grin with another kiss, then she remembered that she was now married to Daniel's brother and frowned.

"You haven't answered my question."

He shrugged, an air of false innocence written all over his face. "I just happened to be in the neighborhood, that's all."

"Try again," she shot back defiantly. "You forget that I can tell when you or your brother are lying."

"You have me there, Angel," he said in mock surrender. "I actually wanted to see you."

She blushed crimson at the nickname, for it was the one he always used during their secret trysts. Then she crossed her arms and took another step away from him, tapping her foot on the floor.

"You should have called to announce your visit, since you seem to know well enough where we live."

"I'm not the one who ran away without a word – and with her boyfriend's brother too."

Angela gave in to a nervous laugh. "Come on. You can't be still angry for that."

A predatory glint lit up his eyes as he closed the distance between them once again. "You're mine, Angel. Mine, and mine only."

Her eyes fluttered shut when he rested his hand on her cheek, but she still struggled to get ahold of herself. "I'm sorry, Daniel. I'm Patrick's wife now."

"My dearest brother stole away what belonged to me. Now it's time for me to claim it back."

When he pulled her in for another kiss she couldn't help but surrender completely. She'd been fighting a losing battle against her own desires, Daniel had always been too much of an addiction to her right from the start.

Her arms sneaked around his neck, and a shiver of anticipation ran down her spine as he found the zip at the back of her dress.

They tumbled onto the sofa; he took his time in driving her crazy, until she was writhing beneath him and begging for mercy.

Later on he strolled to the kitchen, his shirt still unbuttoned and his hair rumpled. Angela watched him as he picked a bag of his favorite tea and brewed himself a cup to perfection, just like Patrick used to do.

A wave of guilt rushed through her at last. What they had done was wrong, she had no right to cheat on the man that loved her so dearly.

"You have to go now," she murmured in an uncertain voice, but Daniel didn't seem to heed her.

Instead he sat himself on the terrace, admiring the view across the bay. "Dear old Paddy seems to have a nice taste in houses. I should ask for his advice, see if he can find me a cozy little place nearby."

"Danny, please," she begged again, feeling dangerously near to tears. She really needed to be alone now.

He smiled at the use of his old nickname, then walked up to her and placed a quick peck on her lips. "As you wish, Angel. I'll come back and visit you one of these days."

A sigh of relief escaped her lips as he finally descended the flight of steps to the beach and slowly disappeared in the distance. She loathed herself for what they had just done, and yet she couldn't deny how much she still wanted him in spite of her better judgment.

Her heart truly belonged to Patrick, but there was a small part of her that had always enjoyed the rush of danger. And she hated to think that, if Daniel ever showed up again, she would probably be weak enough to give in to his charms once more.

That would probably break her husband's heart for good, if he ever came to know about it.


	3. Chapter 3

Shamefully weak, that was what she was. Angela had tried time and time again to put an end to her affair with Daniel, but she could never resist to his silver tongue and his seductive smirk.

The worst part of it was that her husband probably suspected; he might not know who was the man she was seeing, but he could easily guess that there was someone.

Patrick withdrew into himself once again, while she spent her nights crying herself asleep alone in her bed. Until one morning she grabbed a bottle of sleeping pills, and decided that she'd better take the quick way out of this mess.

She scribbled a quick note on a piece of paper, then prepared a cup of tea the way Patrick liked it – with the milk put in first. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she stirred the pills into the steaming beverage, then brought the cup to her lips.

That was when she felt an iron grip on her hand, and she found herself staring in the fathomless depths of her husband's eyes. He took the teacup from her trembling hands and poured its contents down the kitchen sink; then he sat down beside her, and she flinched slightly at his gentle touch.

"I'm sorry," he whispered softly, and she started sobbing at last. If there was someone that was meant to be sorry that should be her, not him.

"Forgive me, Patrick," she muttered, holding onto the lapels of his jacket for dear life. "Forgive me."

"It's okay," he murmured, placing a small kiss on her temple. "Let's forget about the past. We're just going to start it all again."

She could hardly believe it was going to be that easy, but he seemed genuinely upset at the thought he'd just come so close to losing her to death.

"I've always known that my brother held a special place in your heart, but it never really mattered to me. I love you, and I know I wouldn't be the same man without you. You're the one who gave me the strength to break away from a life that I hated, and I'm deeply grateful for that."

"You're too good a man, Patrick," she whispered among the tears. "I don't deserve your love – perhaps I never did."

"Angela, look at me. I've seen dozens of marriages ruined by cheating, but it's never just about the physical act. It's the broken trust and the resentment that tear people apart. I don't want to lose our marriage because of that."

They were truly happy for the next few weeks; Patrick still loved her, and she was never going to risk losing him again.

When Daniel dared to show his face once more she decisively shut him out, claiming that he should respect her decision to save her marriage. She had already pushed his memory to the back of her mind, when old fears resurfaced with a vengeance as she unexpectedly discovered that she was pregnant.

Unfortunately there was a small chance that the baby was actually Daniel's, and she had no idea how her husband would react to such news.

It was Patrick himself who solved her dilemma; one evening he embraced her tenderly and announced that he was the happiest of men, he just couldn't wait to be a father. She knew then that he didn't care who the biological father of the child actually was, for he already loved them as his own.

"I'll be the one to hold our child when they cry at night," he once told her, in between peppering her belly with affectionate kisses. "I'll read them bedtime stories, and throw the most beautiful parties for their birthday. That's what will make me their daddy, and I promise I'm going to be a better father than Daniel and I ever had."

The moment Charlotte Ann was born was the start of a new life, and her previous happiness paled in comparison to what she felt right now. Her baby girl was truly a gift, and her husband now spent all his spare time with the two of them.

The only cloud to her bliss was a short visit that Daniel paid them on the occasion of Charlotte's third birthday. Patrick had gone to town in order to buy a gift for their little princess, and for the first time Angela felt really afraid when his twin stepped in with a strange smile plastered to his face.

"You can't stay here," she hissed under her breath. They had never mentioned Uncle Daniel to Charlotte, and the last thing she wanted was someone to upset her precious daughter.

A naughty grin spread all over his face. "Come on, Angel. I think I deserve to see my child at last."

Angela clenched her fists. "She's not yours. Go away, or I'll call the police."

He chuckled softly, brushing his fingertips at the corner of her lips. "You're beautiful when you're angry."

Then he finally walked away, and she was grateful that Charlotte was too young to understand the meaning of all this. When her husband was back she told him what had happened, and his lips set in a grim line as he listened to her.

"He doesn't get to come into our house as he pleases," Patrick said with conviction, and she felt immediately safer.

A couple of days later he came home with a dark bruise under his eye and scratched knuckles. When asked about it he refused to give any sort of explanation, but she knew that Daniel wasn't going to bother them again.

Later that year they were informed that Daniel Jane had been involved in an tragic accident; his car had fallen over a cliff, and his body was never found. Patrick was deeply saddened at the news, he'd just lost his twin brother after all.

Then they slowly forgot about him in time. Charlotte had now turned five, and she was nothing short of a child prodigy when it came to playing piano.

Her mother would often play with her, or listen to her music as the child's slender fingers danced over the keyboard. Patrick loved to listen too, he always said that their little girl would grow into a fine pianist one day.

He was now consulting with the police on some of their unsolved cases. Angela was proud of him; even if he wasn't a real psychic he still helped them to track down the criminals, and that was all that mattered.

However, she couldn't fight back her bad feeling about the upcoming TV show her husband had been invited to participate in as a guest. She wasn't able to explain the reason for it, but she still begged him not to go.

Patrick only smiled and dropped an affectionate kiss on top of her head. "It's just an interview, Angie. I'll be back soon."

That night she tucked Charlotte into bed, then retreated to her bedroom and spent the next couple of hours staring at the dark shadows moving to and fro on the ceiling.

When she heard a soft step coming up the stairs, she smiled and sat up. Patrick was home earlier than she thought.

The smile died on her lips as soon as she could see his face; this wasn't her husband, though he looked exactly like him.

"So we meet again, Angel," the man said in a somewhat amused whisper.

Then she caught a glimpse of the steel blade shimmering between his gloved fingers.


End file.
